One type of mooring and cargo transfer system includes a buoy anchored to the sea bed to moor a vessel and a fluid swivel which can be located near the sea floor to connect a seabed pipeline to a hose structure extending up to the moored vessel. The fluid swivel and a swivel joint on the buoy permit the vessel to drift in rotation without limit about the installation, while oil flows through the hose structure between the pipeline and vessel. In a typical installation of this type, the various parts of the system are brought to the mooring site and installed with the aid of divers. Considerable expense and time is involved in readying the various components of the system at a shipyard or the like, operating vessels with large cranes or other equipment-handling facilities at the offshore site, and supporting the various personnel, including deep sea divers, to assemble a heavy duty system.
Emergency situations can arise where offshore mooring and oil transfer installations would be very useful, if only they could be set up very rapidly. In one example, where a tanker runs aground and begins leaking oil, a temporary offshore installation can be useful to transfer the oil from the damaged tanker to an empty offloading tanker, in a single or multiple operations depending on the relative size of the tankers, to minimize damage to the environment. However, it is generally necessary that any such offloading operation be installed and begin operation within a short period such as one or two days. Conventional techniques for installing mooring and cargo transfer terminals require considerable time to bring the components to the site, and normally require good weather to complete the installation. Another type of situation that can arise is in supplying fuel to personnel at an undeveloped or hostile shore environment, by utilizing a tanker moored to such an offshore installation to deliver oil through a seabed pipeline to a landbased storage tank, such as to support forces in a military operation. Again, it is necessary that the parts of the system be rapidly brought to the site and rapidly deployed there at with use of a minimum of personnel and equipment. A mooring and cargo transfer system which could be rapidly deployed to an offshore site, using a minimum of vessels and personnel to bring the system to the site and to install it there at, and which enable such installation even in relatively adverse weather conditions, would have considerable value in a number of emergency-like situations.